News analysis

Myanmar military set to use direct rule to secure its future

It'll be free to amend electoral system to protect its role in politics, say analysts

Demonstrators holding up images of National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her late father, General Aung San, at a protest outside the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok yesterday. Political analyst Soe Myint Aung expects the NLD to survive
Demonstrators holding up images of National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her late father, General Aung San, at a protest outside the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok yesterday. Political analyst Soe Myint Aung expects the NLD to survive as a party, to show "a modicum of democracy". PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
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Martial music on radio? Check. Telephone lines cut? Check. Television stations seized? Check.

Young people in Myanmar woke up yesterday to a direct military rule they had never imagined the country would slide back into, on the day the National League for Democracy (NLD) was due to formalise its second term in government.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 02, 2021, with the headline Myanmar military set to use direct rule to secure its future. Subscribe